St Kilda coach Ross Lyon admitted his team lost 'respect' on Sunday following its ten goal loss to Geelong but he is already focusing on getting it back in next week's grudge semi-final against arch-rivals Collingwood at the MCG.

Lyon's first AFL final as either a player or a coach was one to forget on Sunday as his team was thrashed by 58 points with star skipper Nick Riewoldt held to just nine possessions and one goal as flag favourites Geelong romped to its 41st win in the past 43 matches.

But the Saints - courtesy of last week's 108 point hammering of Essendon which saw them scrape into fourth spot, ahead of Adelaide on percentage - have the double chance and Lyon is determined to make the most of it.

"We are not going to throw the baby out with the bath water," Lyon said of a performance which was in stark contrast to the team's eight wins from the past ten matches heading into the finals.

"Over the last ten weeks (before Sunday) we had been number two (in the AFL) for defence and number seven for attack so those numbers are reasonable."

"So we have to learn our lessons, we earned the right to get a second week and we look forward to that."

Lyon admitted his team had been smashed by the Cats as all areas of the Saints' game plan fell apart.

"We'd like to be perceived as harder at the ball than that, like to be perceived as being able to defend better than that and compete against the quality teams better than that," he said.

"But we have to look at the reasons why we didn't and go forward next week."

However Lyon knows his team faces a tough task to rebound in next week's knockout semi-final against a Collingwood side that not only won its elimination final on interstate soil against Adelaide and will have an extra day's rest than the Saints but has already beaten the Saints twice this season.

"We will go in the underdogs and we will have to work hard to get the respect back that we gave up today," he said.

"We get to go away and re-group and earn some respect back and that is the aim."

Lyon however refused to be critical of his team - even Riewoldt who was the game's major disappointment as he copped a hiding from Geelong's impressive first year defender Harry Taylor.

"It wasn't an ideal day for Nick with the delivery (into the forward line) and playing against such a great defence," he said.

"But Nick is always the first to put his hand up and say I didn't deliver what I would have liked to today as captain but he never stopped trying."